Thanksgiving and all of it's amazingness

I love Thanksgiving..I mean, pretty much anything after October 10th (random date hehe) is fair game and amazing in my book!  :)  Once I have any excuse to eat a ridiculous amount of yummy food and decorate my house with an exorbitant amount of holiday knick knacks... and then of course there's the glorious weather (well, sometimes....Houston...yuckk).  But all in all...I love everything about this time of year.  I LOVE getting to talk to my ever so curious children about what Christmas is all about and listening to their eagerness to give to others in need!  I LOVE it all!! 

 Teaching Annabella to peel potatoes..she's gotta learn soon enough  :)

 Good job BellaBear!!!  (I helped..a little  hehe)

My favorite thing when I was a kid was to eat the raw potatoes...thankfully Annabella joined in on the tradition. hahaha

 My little helpers!!

 Making the pie crust pretty!!  :)

 Yummmm

 The best part!!!  :)

 Can you tell she's a bit excited??!!  :)

 haha  this was too funny!  They were just sitting in front watching and waiting for it to be done!  

 Then of course, there's the brisk walks in the bitter cold (okay, so more like in the 50's..haha)

 My goofy grapes

 :)

So last but certainly NOT least...I asked the kids what they were most thankful for.  Annabella cut out of a magazine all the things she said she was thankful for this year...and let me translate what it is.  :)

She's thankful for:

Questions, toothpaste,letters (hey, never thought of that, but very handy! haha), cookies,yummy drinks,spoons,food,soap,puppets(apparently that is what she thinks the big blue guy is), pretzels, and most importantly... Jesus dying on the cross! 

Malachi said he was thankful for candy, chocolate, and prayer houses. :)  Yup, that seems about right!  :)

And Ezekiel...well I think when I asked him he said "dada"...but he pretty much says that to any question I ask him, so I don't know about that one! haha

I am so ridiculously blessed and I am continually asking the Lord to remind me of that...and no matter what circumstances comes my way...I will always be blessed, because I have Him, and that's enough.

Lord, thank you...for everything.  :)

Our little ballerina

So our premier ballerina had a little performance at her ballet school the other day...more like a little sneek peek of all the delightful things they have been learning!  :) 

When Annabella gets nervous she chews on her skirt..haha  which is kinda interesting when someone new comes over and says hello and she just pulls up her dress and starts chewing on it! haha

Annabella is to the right of the teacher with Mickey on her shirt!  Not sure what she's doing though! hehe  Being awesome...I think so!  :)

My ballerina  :)

Daddy even got off early to watch..she was VERY excited and then he took her out for a father/daughter date...very fun!!!

She is growing up so fast....no I mean literally; I just bought her a nice pair of tap shoes and now she can't fit into them! haha  :) 

Little girls = one of my most favorite things in the whole world

Playing outside has never been funner!

Ever since the evil wasps have taken over our back yard there hasn't been much frolicking out doors. Then I decided who needs back yards...front yards will do just fine!  Yes it's true, I'm almost certain the neighbors think our family is truly psychotic now......but I like to think of it as true awesomeness!  :)

 The kids and their "Christmas tree" they created and of course all the "presents" underneath....oh, you couldn't tell it was a Christmas tree??? (me either! hehe)

 Singing around the Christmas tree

 Praying before they feast  :)

 Flying  :)

 I'm not quite sure what were doing...i'm just doing what she says!  :)

 I wish someone could do that to me!  :)

 Ezekiel was NOT too amused...he was pushing me off..haha

 My princess and I

Like mother, like daughter  :)

Front yards = not too shabby  

Teeth....every body has um! :)

So maybe it's just me, but I  don't necessarily  always remember to brush my kids teeth...I mean, first of all I have to literally chase Malachi down (I'm talking, running at full speed in circles through the house) to finally catch him and then bribe and or threat everything I can think of in order to stick that brush in his little mouth.....just for the record though, I'm a pretty good runner, so I usually catch him pretty fast!  :) 

All that to say....I was a thinking going to the dentist wouldn't be such a bad idea.  I mean, if my kid is the ripe old age of 3 and has a root canal or something........that just doesn't look good, that's all I'm saying.  haha

So off we go...the kids were ridiculously excited....I'm talking they thought we were going to stinkin Disney Land or something.  We walked in the waiting room and they shouted, "YAYY!! were at the dentist! were here!  Oh were finally here!!" I'm thinking, "Lord have mercy, people are thinking I lock these kids in a room or something and never let them see the light of day!" haha  I give them chocolate and they shrug their shoulders, but I tell them were going to the dentist and they leap with exuberance......haha....

 The big kids...and "Lamby"!  :)

 They pretty much thought they were the coolest things ever waiting like big kids...well for all of about 3 minutes....then we played Red light Green light for the remainder of the time.  :)

 After we got in...Annabella was suposed to be first, but started to have a panic attack when looking at the scary chairs; she insisted that Malachi went first.  Malachi bravely crawled up..with Lamby in tow, of course!  :)

 She finally mustered the courge to climb up after seeing that Malachi got a special good bag after he finished!

 Now Malachi was expecting a "treat" in his bag; he's always been one for candy over cars. haha  So when they put a little toy car in his bag he was very confused...

He was then convinced that this toy car was actually a chocolate car made to look like a toy in disguise.  He then preceded to eat it. haha  Not even kidding....he actually bit off the wheels and got some paint in his mouth. hahaha  After MUCH disappointment, I promised him a REAL treat when we got home! haha

All in all...it was a successful trip.

                                      No cavities, clean teeth, pretty smiles...thank you Jesus!!!  :)

It's gonna be worth it...

1 Peter 4:12-16: “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trials you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 

Why am I surprised when I suffer???  And more than that....why am I troubled by it? 

I would venture to say that when our eyes are fixed on the reality of heaven NOTHING  MATTERS but the surpassing glory of Christ.

So...that brings me to say.....what if all we did in this life is suffer.  Now when I say suffer, I don't mean our spirits.... I am talking about working with people that HATE us, husbands that are absent, children who have died, houses that have been taken away, people who have been neglected, hopes that have been shattered, promises that have been broken.......

Some would say...that's terrible....and by no means I am NOT saying that it isn't.... all I'm saying is WHAT if we recognized that this is our ONLY time in all of eternity to experience suffering and still choose Christ.  ALL OF THE REST OF ETERNITY will be exceeding joy and bliss and this is the ONLY time throughout all of eternity that we will be able to have the opportunity to LOVE our Emmies, REJOICE in the midst of PAIN, and TRUST God when we have NO idea how it's gonna turn out!!!!

WOW...this is it...this is our chance to exercise faith...to POUR out love on people that are seemingly UNLOVABLE...even repulsive at times!     

When we get to heaven...I think it WILL matter..no it's not about performance but rather being so changed by our heavenly father...so living out a place of intimacy and eyes fixed on eternity that it will be so worth it!  We may remember the good memories...but don't you think what we and our Jesus will REALLY remember is when we choose love when our flesh wanted to hate...when we chose to spend time at the feet of our king, rather than WASTE OUR TIME with our frivolous nothingness!  

It's ALL for Him, or it's ALL for nothing    period.

If we just got  a glimpse of eternity we would gladly do it....we would gladly suffer for the name of Jesus...because we know that this is the most unique time in all of eternity......to have exercise FAITH!!!!

Our greatest calling in this life is to serve and LOVE everyone around us with the passionate love of Jesus flowing out of us...to live sacrificially...to love RELENTLESSLY, to walk in faith in seemingly UTTER DARKNESS...and GLORIFY our Jesus through it all!  

This is our destiny.

We must FIX our gaze continually on Him..that's our only hope.  

"In the presence of the Lord, there is fullness of joy!"  

We were created to glorify God...to have NO RIGHTS...NO AGENDA...just pawns of our Lord Jesus Christ, slaves to His master plan........

Oh Jesus...YOU are WORTH IT...It's gonna be worth it!!!  

You are worth of all of our time, all of our money, all of our thoughts, all of our affections.....

I want to be a pure and spotless bride...

"Take me through the fire,

take me through the flame,

take me through the testing,

I'll do anything......"

You are all the matters..

Reveal Yourself to us...remove the veil from before our eyes...

I want to love you...I want to love others...even if it hurts...even if it kills me.........

Because your worth it.

Auntie Lizzy

So after much waiting, and ridiculous anticipation by all...Aunt Lizze has finally arrived!!!  She is gonna stay with us for 3 glorious, beautiful months!!  I can still hardly believe it!!! She felt like the Lord wanted her to come and stay with us and just help us in any way she can....that's the only reason shes here...to bless us!!! WOW!!!  She's FOR SURE gonna be getting some crowns in heaven someday!!!!  :)))

All of that to say, she's already helped me make a schedule and is forcing me to stick with it (Praise GOD!!) If I start to dilly daddle and start to fold some laundry, she'll shout,  "Mary...it's 1:00....time for your time with Jesus....I don't want to see you out of that room till 3:00 missy!!!" AHHHH...I am sooooo blessed!!!!!!

Sooo..with that being said..she is quite the role model....no, she doesn't take Annabella to get her nails done or go shopping at the nearby mall.....no, Aunt Lizze has a little different, and I would say...awesome approach!!

 Aunt Lizzie teaches Annabella the importance of learning to brush your hair with a fork...hey, you never know when you won't have a brush around  :)

 Aunt Lizzie teaches Annabella how to dread hair....I mean, how awesome is that.

 Now Annabella tries to dread her own hair along side her very hippie Aunt!  Unfortunately, daddy wouldn't let her finish..hehe...maybe someday!  :)

And of course, Aunt Lizzie has been teaching how to look like a beggar; and I must say, Annabella is totally owning that look!  hahaha

 

Needless to say we all VERY excited about having Aunt Lizzie around and look forward to many silly adventures!!!  :)  

Distracted...Part 2!!!

Ok...so this HAS to be said! 

I was freaking out all afternoon because my hall bathroom is backed up and my sister gets here tomorrow! I cleaned it, and tried to get any stuff that could be stuck in it...and then I sent Charlie to the grocery store at 9:00 at night just to get some Drano-Gel...only to be incredibly disappointed that it was STILL backed up!!!

So right when I finished posting the last blog post I ran to tell Charlie that it was still indeed clogged and we had to do something!!!  He looked at me and asked sweetly, "are you sure the drain is open babe?"  "Well of course I'm sure I replied!!" 

Well, needless to say...I walked in  and looked at that bathtub backed up with water...released the lever.......... and down went the water!!!! hahaha

Oh Jesus, help me...I'm 22 and my brain is already fried!!!!!  :)

Distracted....

So perhaps it's because I'm insanely ADD..or possibly it's because I just don't notice much..but I think mainly...it's because I just choose to be in my own world sometimes...I call it.. "Mary's land"...and when I'm there, nothing really phases me.... haha :) 

This morning, I was trying to "sleep in" (7:00 am) and when I awoke Annabella had eaten half a bag of chips in our bed and we were covered in crumbs...how did that happen?? 

Or when I was on the phone with a doctor and Ezekiel climbed on the counter, grabbed the cereal, ripped open the bag and tried (and failed...dont worry haha) to eat the whole bag in a far off cornor....

Or maybe earlier today when Annabella comes in while I'm cleaning the bathroom and asks, "mom, can I have a knife??" ...in a dazed confusion...( I was obviously in "Mary's land" at that point) I was like, "what are you talking about Annabella, of course not!"  The next thing I know I see her hacking a bag of rolls open with a butter knife..I was like, "what the heck are you doing??!!!" and she calmly responded, "mom, I had to open it somehow!"  hahahaha...

I guess this is what they do in the car when I'm not looking..haha

 And of course, he totally started it!

 Yummmm  :)

 Or this is fun..lets see how far we can jump off the bed...I caught them right when Annabella had taken her leap!  haha

 I walked in to the three of them making something that looked like a tent....harmless enough......then I walk away...

 I come back....and Ezekiel's trapped in there screaming... I ask the kids whats going on and they both say,  "mama, he's in jail right now...and he cant come out for a long time!" I can honestly say I dont know how long he would have stayed in there if I hadn't showed up on the scene! haha

And this time was my favorite!!!!  It was super early and I heard nosies from the kids room...  Charlie and I continued to sleep, hoping it was nothing.  Finally i decided to go see what it was...I walk in to this!!!!!  :)  They were jumping so high they were about to bounce Ezekiel right out!! haha  I love them!!!!  :)

So maybe I'm a little scattered brained,  and maybe not the most perceptive person on the planet but it makes for a much funner, sillier, and goofier day.  

Here's to silly moments, hilarious children, and of course the wonderful escape of "Mary's land"!!!! hehe :)))))

Halloween Part 2- on a lighter note :)

So now that I've given my intense opinion of Halloween in my last post; I feel the freedom to show some silly pictures of our Halloween festivities this year!  :)

 Cowboy and Indian princess...we thought Ezekiel was a little too young to be roaming the streets  :)

 The next Indiana Jones....

                                                       Harrison Ford's got nothing on him!  :)

 I love her

 Getting ready to ask strangers for candy ..  :)

 Papa handing out candy 

 Getting ready to go to her first house! We were prepping her before hand and we were telling her to say "God bless you" after she said thank you...instead she said, "Can I pray for you?" I don't think they heard her...I wish they would have!  :)

 All the yummy goodness!  :)  I figured they didn't need ALL that candy...so being the responsible parents that we are..we helped consume it. :)

 One of their "treats"..what is this world coming to!!!  haha

 We also went to a fall party with some friends..

 Heidi dressed up as a 7th grader...too convincing??? 

 Making crafts

 Love the craft...don't know about the face.  haha

Cayden...you are awesome!  :)

My favorite home group ladies...minus a few!!  :)

Happy fall everyone!!